What Catalyst Community Did For Us
Jonathan Matthews grew up in Brazil where his parents served as missionaries. As an adult, he returned to Brazil to follow in their footsteps. We partnered with Jonathan and the Southern Cone Initiative for our recent Catalyst Communities in Brazil. Here’s what Jonathan had to say about Catalyst Community:
In addition to recording the video above Jonathan shared a little more in a letter to his ministry partners:
“This learning experience has changed the way I look at my responsibility as a pastor, and the way I look at what my church could do in expanding the Kingdom of God through leadership development and church-planting.
Pastor Jader
“For the first time, I realize that much of what I am doing as a pastor is more about castle-building than Kingdom-building. I want to change that, and now I have the tools to do so.”
Pastor Daniel
“Through the workshop exercises, I realized that I really did not have a game plan for making, multiplying, and deploying disciples. This event has connected me to people and resources that can help me do just that.”
Pastor Emerson
Jonathan Continued:
These are just a few of the comments that we received from church-planters last week. We brought 68 key church- planters, pastors and ministry leaders together to learn, pray, and ask God for a big vision for what He would have us do in Southern Brazil over the next few years. In all, there were 25 churches represented from 16 different cities. Colin Denlea and Matt Watson, our Catalyst Community partners from the U.S., taught and facilitated two workshops that happened over the course of 10 days in 2 cities in Southern Brazil.
This was the big event that we had been working towards ever since launching the Southern Cone Initiative in Brazil in 2020. We started at ground zero with one connection, a church-planter named Bruno in the City of Criciuma. That connection led to more connections in new cities, and new connections formed from those connections. Through a shared vision, those connections developed into friendships, and a growing number of connected friendships formed networks. One of the objectives of this Catalyst Community event was to introduce these friends, and networks, one to another.
“For 18 months we chopped the firewood and piled it high. Catalyst Community was the spark that lit the fire and activated red-hot faith. These 25 churches responded by declaring that God was giving them a vision to see 138 churches planted, 1055 leaders developed, and 520 groups multiplied by 2026.”
So, how do we sustain this momentum? We continue doing what we have been doing, we Connect, we Catalyze, and we Coach. Our next steps are monthly Network Huddles, Catalyst Cohorts, and Converge Intensives. As we continue to push the flywheel, turn upon turn, we need you to continue steadfast in your prayers and financial support for our ministry.
Jonathan Matthews
